One of the things Anderson loves about being at Yale is that at 31 she is frequently the oldest member of the congregation at the daily Eucharist. Worshiping with young adults who “love the church and the traditional practices in quiet and non-fussy but faithful ways” is a source of hope for her. “But where I don’t find hope,” she says, “is that every one of them, except for me, is already in the ordination process or wants to be. And I sometimes see a future for the church where I’m the only layperson left.”

… “We’ve reified this whole idea that you have a calling or you don’t,” says Anderson, “and that vocation means vocation to ordained ministry.” Because of this one-size-fits-all idea of leadership, people like her and many of the seminarians that surround her at Yale, active in the church and sensing a call to some sort of leadership, are pushed toward ordination.